tr8todd
tr8todd Reader
3/1/13 5:44 p.m.

Years ago I sent a Mallory dual point distributor back to Mallory to be rebuilt. It came back in a nice new box and I tossed it onto a shelf with a bunch of other spare parts. Today I go to get the car out of storage and it starts but is running like crap. Mess with the carb a little, and it's running better. Decide to install the Mallory to see if that will help. Idles like a champ, but breaks up as you give it some throttle. Pull out the timing light and check the timing at idle. Looks good at around 8BTDC. Rev it up and the pointer marks start retarding instead of advancing. Gets to about 6ATDC at 2K RPM and it's breaking up badly. Pulled it out of the car and tore it apart. Sure enough, when the weights fling open, the rotor moves the wrong way. I'll look into it more tomorrow. Either the weights can be flipped upside down to reverse direction of the advance/retard function or the guys at Mallory put the wrong plate in there.

Vigo
Vigo UltraDork
3/2/13 3:11 p.m.

Wow, that IS a weird one.

But major props to you for figuring out something that would leave 80%+ of people on car forums completely dumbfounded.. heh

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
3/2/13 3:22 p.m.

I would love to see a video of that one

Ranger50
Ranger50 UberDork
3/2/13 3:35 p.m.

It really is amazing how much of the basics of troubleshooting are lost on most people. The really sad part is that you can't do the basics on most of the newer vehicles out there. Either the computer says everything is "fine", or you have to be able to cipher all the datastream to find the problem.

Zomby Woof
Zomby Woof UberDork
3/2/13 6:54 p.m.

The ability to troubleshoot is what separates the mechanics from the wannabes.

viking
viking New Reader
3/2/13 6:55 p.m.

somebody built that for a Corvair turbo

ultraclyde
ultraclyde Dork
3/2/13 9:40 p.m.
Zomby Woof wrote: The ability to troubleshoot is what separates the mechanics from the wannabes.

QFmuthaberkeleyinT

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